What would you do with Gush in Legacy?

[wcm8]

As a sister thread for the Tinker discussion, how would Gush be integrated into existing decks? Would the card enable new archetypes?

Gush is an incredibly broken, 'free' Draw 2 spell (at instant speed no less!). The drawback of the alternative cost isn't even much of a drawback: it can provide pseudo-ramp on turn 3 and later, and it makes Brainstorm and Jace activations even more powerful since it fills your hand with lands to shuffle away. It would help dig for a counterspell during a critical turn.

It interacts well with Merchant Scroll, and could be easily integrated into any deck archetype that plays Islands. More could be searched out via Intuition, and it's possible that something like Noxious Revival or Regrowth would see play to form a pseudo-engine. It could trigger a Miracle on your opponent's turn even without something like Sensei's Divining Top on the board. Though unlikely, corner-case 'Grow' creatures such as Quirion Dryad, Psychatog, Kiln Fiend, and Lorescale Coatl might see potential play alongside Gush. I'm sure there are plenty of other interactions I haven't considered.

The obvious winners would be RUG and BUG tempo (however, Wasteland is much worse when the effect could be effectively countered by a well-timed Gush), but blue-based Control and Combo archetypes would similarly benefit. Any method of generating 'free' Storm on a combo turn that also draws cards would be a welcome addition to TES and ANT.

The notable omissions from Vintage are the backbones of the 'Gush Engine': Fastbond and Yawgmoth's Will. But even without these two enablers, Gush is still incredible on its own.

The card is not really safe to unban. It provides an unfair method of card advantage that can't really be outdone by non-Blue decks. Games would probably often be decided by who drew more Gushes in the right timeframe. However, I think it's kind of fun to think about. Just how warped would the Format become with Gush available? What would your hypothetical 60 look like?

[DragoFireheart]

As a sister thread for the Tinker discussion, how would Gush be integrated into existing decks?

I would shove it into Tempo Thresh and abuse the format.

[John Cox]

I would play doomsday like a maniac (see what I did there ).

[nedleeds]

Quit and play Vintage and Modern.

[iamajellydonut]

I would shove it into Tempo Thresh and abuse the format.

Pretty much this. Probably four-color-pile more often than not.

[joemauer]

I would play four copies of said card and win against anyone not playing it.

[nedleeds]

Pretty sure RUG delver just wins everything for the rest of the formats existence (which wouldn't be too long). Even nuttier is that you combine 4 x Gush with 4 x Brainstorm.

So now there's really little drawback in playing out slightly more lands than RUG needs (of course at most SCGs I see idiotic road apple's stumbling into victories with RUG delver despite having 6 lands in play) because now you can Gush them back and use them to make sure Brainstorm acts like Ancestral the way a good ban worthy card should.

The only weakness RUG had ... it's shaky, cheaty manabase is now invulnerable to Wasteland barring Gaddock Teeg. Fun format. The only thing that might be mildly interesting is maybe Quirion Dryad gets another run (or Vinelasher ...).

[Koby]

Quit and play Vintage and Modern.

This. If we're going to get unfettered access to Gush, then why be limited be the constraints of Legacy to begin with?

[Countertoplol]

Enjoy DDFT even more.

[TsumiBand]

Is this just a thing we're doing now?

Which card were you secretly talking about when you said Gush - Brainstorm, Meditate, Ancestral Visions? I give up, which Blue spell is the broken draw spell that you're really pointing the finger at.



EDIT - I guess if I had to say what deck I'd build, it'd totally be that Kiln Fiend/Blistercoil Weird Counterburn deck. Imagine the sweet technology of getting your rocks off with free spells like Force/Gush, pseudofree spells like Manamorphose, coupled with Lightning Bolts and maybe a dumbass Fling or something. Every Kiln Fiend will be a 16/2, every Blistercoil Weird will be a 7/7, and every opponent will feel savagely trolled.

[dontbiteitholmes]

This thread sucks, but in a world where Gush is legal, obviously Black Vice would also be unbanned, in which case I'm playing Stasis.

[Jamaican Zombie Legend]

Quit, sell off what few decks/staples I have left, and go play EDH/Cube exclusively.

[Megadeus]

Play Standard. The best format ever!

[Amon Amarth]

Play some sorta Gro-A-Tog deck. Or combo. I don't know if there is anything better than those two.

[Mr Miagi]

Everybody saying how the would jam them Gushes in RUG decks.. on first sight this might seem logical. But wouldn't returning two lands and usually leaving 0 behind for Daze hurt RUG more than benefit it? Also, there would be some awkward situations where you'll have wasteland in play, either wasting you'r opponent or just sticking it with your lands to play let's say Goyf and leave Spellpierce backup.

.. not saying that Gush should be unbanned, but Jamming it in RUG.. I do not think it's more optimal than the current/standard lists we're currently running...

[thefringthing]

I agree with others that a tempo strategy that never wants to have more than two lands in play anyway would probably be the best thing you can do with Gush in Legacy.

[imnotbrown]

Probably return two islands to my hand so I can draw two at instant speed.

[ahg113]

I'd trade all the Gush's I'm sitting on, for maximum value. Blue is stupid.

[Piceli89]

I would make deep, slow love in the butt with everyone not playing Blue.





Oh, wait.

[nedleeds]

Everybody saying how the would jam them Gushes in RUG decks.. on first sight this might seem logical. But wouldn't returning two lands and usually leaving 0 behind for Daze hurt RUG more than benefit it? Also, there would be some awkward situations where you'll have wasteland in play, either wasting you'r opponent or just sticking it with your lands to play let's say Goyf and leave Spellpierce backup.

.. not saying that Gush should be unbanned, but Jamming it in RUG.. I do not think it's more optimal than the current/standard lists we're currently running...

Well you're wrong.